12 September 2025
The trial of three Brighton Beach police officers accused of attempting to cover up a rape was postponed in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Friday. It is expected to resume on 22 September. Photo: Benita Enoch
The trial of three Brighton Beach police officers accused of attempting to cover up a rape was postponed in the Durban Magistrate’s court on Friday.
The case concerns Q (a name we assigned to the victim who is in witness protection), who had reported that she was raped in March 2023.
Her rapist, Zwelakhe Mashaba, was released when officer Gugulethu Buthelezi issued a notice claiming insufficient evidence.
According to the state, Q was later detained, intimidated by officers Phila Xulu and Sanele Zuma into withdrawing her complaint, and also held overnight in jail while Mashaba was placed in a nearby cell.
IPID investigator Michael Viljoen previously testified that proper procedures were ignored, including transporting Q and her rapist in the same vehicle, and that the Public Protector flagged irregularities that led to the probe.
After a review of the case by the Public Protector and a subsequent investigation by IPID into police irregularities, Mashaba was rearrested and, on 5 February this year, convicted of the crime. Mashaba was later linked by DNA to two other unsolved cases.
Mashaba was imprisoned for ten years at Westville prison, deemed unfit to own a firearm and ordered to be listed on the sex offender’s registry.
Prior to his conviction, he had only been brought in on a charge of drunkenness.
The officers are charged with defeating the ends of justice and intimidation. They have pleaded not guilty and called the case a “malicious prosecution.”
On Friday, Magistrate Mayne Mewalall adjourned the matter on the grounds of the defence’s unavailability as there was a death in the family.
Neither the state nor the remaining defence team objected to the adjournment. The case is back on the roll for 22 September 2025.